Here is a summary of responses I received. I am grateful to all who responded! Thank you, this has been most helpful.
A few people suggested googling “technology petting zoo”
I) I have friends in the public library realm and they've done what they call a "technology petting zoo" as an inservice for the staff so that everyone gets a chance to use the new products and technologies so that they can better serve the savvy public coming in and demanding that the library keep up with the times...
2) I did a quick Google search:
infopeople:
http://infopeople.org/training/past/2008/petting/
and there are a ton more websites, pdfs, power point presentations, and videos that talk about how to share information on using new technologies like smart phones, etc...
3) it has been many years since we did this (I think it was 2001 or 2002), but it was very well received and well-attended. We had it in the private dining rooms near the cafeteria, so it was on nearly everyone's path. One thing we found out afterwards - those in charge of supply with the campus/hospital had not been involved in the planning, and they told us they should have been. We used our library contacts with the various vendors, but should have gone through established connections to set things up”
4) We're having several Mobile Technology events this Thursday and Friday at Penn. We had similar presentations last year at about this time. We've invited two vendors (Unbound Medicine, Ebsco) who will help out at our events.
We've scheduled 1.5 hr events at various locations around campus. They include: Dental Library, Vet School hallway, Nursing School Lobby, Biomedical Library, and outside our hospital cafeteria. We basically setup a table with literature and sigs and then accost as many people as possible showing them our licensed products as well as fun free apps that might interest them.
If participants fill out a survey, we'll enter them into a drawing for a new iPod Touch. Here's a link to our survey on Survey Monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/78SKHCG
You might want to visit our mobile site at: http://www.library.upenn.edu/m/healthsci/
Here's a link to our m-friendly hlth sci picks: http://www.library.upenn.edu/m/healthsci/hswebres.html?mobilehome=healthsci
And some hlth sci apps: http://www.library.upenn.edu/m/healthsci/hsapps.html?mobilehome=healthsci
We also have a "about mobile" site at: http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/support/mobile/healthsci/
More general sites not specific to hlth sci is at: http://gethelp.library.upenn.edu/support/mobile/applicationdirectory.html
Fun/helpful apps we promote include: dropbox, evernote, stanza, public radio, pandora, goodreader (not free but great app that handles pdf files well), the weather channel, iSepta, Tripit
5) We do this several times a year and hand out serial numbers for various tools we subscribe to. There is always a good response, though it rarely goes beyond "here is what is available and here is the serial number."
6) I held an Open House and Technology Petting Zoo this October. It went really well - we are a 450 bed hospital and I had about 250 attendees - I will definitely shoot for more next year.
I asked all of my library vendors to send a rep and also invited, Best Buy, Target, WalMart, Radio Shack, Barnes & Noble (for their Nook), AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Best Buy backed out about a month before the event so I tried to get Target, WalMart, Radio Shack to come. They weren't able, so we ended up having the cell phone companies and Barnes and Noble. My plan for next year is to invite all of these vendors and to begin planning this in June next year and shoot for a Friday in October to hold the event.
My goal in inviting these vendors in addition to our library vendors was to show the physicians how to use our resources and how they can access these resources at the point of care. It worked well. I really wanted to see iPads, iPhones, netbooks, Nooks - anything that the physician can use at the point of care.
I charged all of our vendors a $25 fee and got a pharmaceutical rep to bring in breakfast and lunch. With the $25 fee (and a $100 gift card donated by WalMart) I bought snacks and door prizes (including a Nook). This helped with our attendance. I also publicized quite a bit, however the shift in attendees caused me to hold off somewhat, so next year I will begin earlier. I used email, efax, electronic bulletin board, posted on Website, posted in all written communications to publicize. I will add this to our Medical Staff department meeting agendas for next year.
This was a good bit of work, but fun and well worth it! I've noticed a few more new faces around the library since the event!
I hope this made sense. I'm happy to give you any more details that you need. Good luck with your event!
7) The Health Sciences Library System at University of Pittsburgh just sponsored an event on October 29. It was very successful, and we will probably repeat it next year. The website is http://www.hsls.pitt.edu/mobile/. For more information, I suggest you speak with Fran Yarger, HSLS Ass't Director for Computing Services, who is copied on this message.
University of Maryland also did a symposium on handheld computing last year; their website is http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu/athand/index.php/home/Kind regards,
-----Original Message-----
From: Medical Libraries Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Easterby-Gannett, Sharon
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 2:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Hand held fair
Has anyone had an event or fair demonstrating library resources on hand
held devices? I would like any information about whether anyone has
done this and what kind of response they got. Also, any tips for
planning this would be welcome. Thanks! I will summarize for the list
if there is interest.
Kind regards,
Sharon Easterby-Gannett
Associate Director, Medical Libraries
Lewis B. Flinn Library
Christiana Hospital
4755 Ogletown-Stanton Rd
Christiana Care Health System
Newark, DE 19718
Voice 302.733.1164 Fax 302.733.1365
Medical Libraries - Your Link Between Data and Decision
www.christianacare.org <http://www.christianacare.org/>
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